CRPF jawan killed in Jammu & Kashmir encounter

SRINAGAR: A Central Reserve Police Force jawan was killed and a policeman injured in an encounter in Srinagar when militants attempted to barge inside a CRPF camp on Monday morning. The operation was continuing till late evening. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti reiterated that India and Pakistan should hold a dialogue to put an end to continuing bloodshed in the state.

The attack took place two days after militants stormed into an army camp in Jammu, where five armed forces personnel, a civilian and three militants were killed. The CRPF jawan killed in Srinagar encounter was identified as Mujahid Khan from Bihar. Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba, in a statement to local news agencies, claimed responsibility of the attack in Srinagar and vowed to continue the attacks against armed forces .

The encounter spot is around 50 metres from SMHS Hospital from where LeT prisoner Naveed Jhat, alias Abu Hanzala, managed to flee from the custody of police last week.


Chief minister Mufti said in a post on microblogging site Twitter on Monday: “Dialogue with Pakistan is necessary if we are to end bloodshed. I know I will be labelled anti-national by news anchors tonight but that doesn’t matter. The people of J&K are suffering. We have to talk because war is not an option.”

Sharing details of the encounter, the government said that a sentry at CRPF 23 battalion headquarter at Karan Nagar spotted two militants at around 4:30 am carrying backpacks and armed with AK-47 rifles and opened fire, after which the militants escaped towards a nearby locality. “Militants have been cornered in an abandoned house near CRPF camp and the encounter is still on,” revenue minister Abdul Rehman Veeri said.

Officials said terrorists might carry out more such attacks in the days to come, even as the government’s ‘Operation All Out’ aimed at wiping out militancy from the state is continuing. In 2017, security forces killed 213 militants including 127 foreigners. However, around 126 locals, the highest figure in several years, are believed to have taken to militancy last year.